Pedestrian protection systems are described, e.g., in European Published Patent Application No. 0 914 992 and German Published Patent Application No. 100 16 142 as well as from the related art discussed in German Published Patent Application No. 100 16 142. German Published Patent Application No. 100 16 142 describes, e.g., a person protection system having a trigger switch, the trigger switch having a first pair of contacts and at least one second pair of contacts which is operable by pressure and by which an electric circuit may be closed and thereby a contact signal produced, the first and the second pair of contacts being situated at a spatial distance from each other.